Luhrmann Wins Grawemeyer Religion Prize

Dec 06, 2013

American evangelical practices of prayer can train the mind to experience God, says Tanya Luhrmann, a Stanford University psychological anthropologist, received the prize for the ideas set forth in her 2012 book, When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God. the winner of the 2014 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

Luhrmann wrote the book after four years of fieldwork in Chicago and Northern California with Vineyard Christian Fellowship, a church whose members speak in tongues and pray for healing. She observed and interviewed church members and took part in prayer groups, Bible study and weekly worship.

After extensive research, she concluded that the evangelical experience of God involves a sophisticated play of mind cultivated through both individual practice and communal support.

Besides tracing the development of Pentecostalism and showing how questions of belief have changed in modern times, Luhrmann applies important theories from psychology and anthropology to explain what happens when evangelicals pray, said award director Shannon Craigo-Snell, Professor of Theology and faculty director of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

“Instead of asking ‘Is God real?’ she asks ‘How does God become real for people?” Craigo-Snell said. “She offers a compelling exploration of religious experience in evangelical communities and a captivating account of prayer as a way of training the mind to experience God.”

UofL presents four Grawemeyer Awards each year for outstanding works in music composition, world order, psychology and education. The university and Seminary jointly give a fifth award in religion. This year’s awards are $100,000 each.

For more details on the awards or to download Luhrmann’s photo, see grawemeyer.org.